Wednesday, October 26, 2005
WebAwards -- 2005

Entries were judged on the following seven criteria:
- Design
- Innovation
- Content
- Technology
- Interactivity
- Copywriting
- Ease of use
The four WebAward levels are as follows:
- Best of Show
- Best of Industry
- Outstanding Website
- Standard of Excellence
Web developers can use these award-winning Websites to benchmark design standards and to stimulate design ideas. Beantown Web will launch a new service next month called "How Did They Do That?" These periodic postings will focus on a single site, deconstruct an interesting design idea, and show you, step-by-step, how you can incorporate the design concept into your work.
So, let's take a look. The Best of Show (overall winner) award went to National Geographic - Inside The Mafia.
Listed below are the Best of Industry award winners in 92 industry categories:
- Advertising - Meet the Lucky Ones
- Advocacy - Exhale
- Airline - We Know Why You Fly
- Application Service Provider - MailChimp
- Arts - San Jose Repertory Theatre
- Associations - Advertising Hall of Fame
- Auction - Major League Baseball Auctions
- Automobile - Volkswagen 2005 re-design
- B2B - Signity - Inspiration, Innovation, Information
- Bank - Sainsburysbank.co.uk
- Beverage - Dare Shot
- Biotechnology - Hutchinson Technology BioMeasurement Division
- Broadcasting - The Family Channel website
- Brokerage - A Defining Year
- Catalog - L.L.Bean
- Computer: Hardware - HP.com
- Computer: Retailer - HPshopping.com
- Computer: Software - Avid Technology, Inc. corporate website
- Construction - Bell-Corley.com
- Consulting - Jack Morton Worldwide
- Consumer Goods - Nestle Kids Ice Cream
- Credit Union - America First Credit Union
- Design - Nokia Nseries Sitelet
- Directory or Search Engine - Scirus, the science-focused search engine
- Diversified Business - The Official Anne Geddes Website
- Education - Hot Shot Business
- Email - SAP Funk Brothers
- Employment - Au Pair & Nanny Agency
- Energy - AGL Resources
- Entertainment - National Geographic Inside The Mafia
- Events - The Microsoft PDC Website
- E-Zine - Hong Kong E-zine
- Faith-based - Talbot School of Theology Website
- Family - FamilyCookbookProject.com
- Fashion - Tommy Kids Web Site
- Financial Services - Merrill Lynch Gateway Website
- Food Industry - Jacqmotte Escape
- Game Site - Star Wars Mercenaries Game Site
- General Interest - Try-A-Hairstyle, from LHJ.com
- Government - Postage Rate Calculator
- Health Care - Cochlear Website
- Healthcare Provider - Mount Sinai Hospital Montreal
- Home Building - Andersen Windows
- Hotel and Lodging - WARWICK International Hotels
- Information Services - Intellithought, Inc.
- Institutional Services - ABF U-Pack Moving
- Insurance - Medical Mutual - Ohio's Get-Well Card TM
- Interactive Services - AgencyNet Interactive
- International Business - SAP Business Community
- Internet Service Provider - Fios Internet
- Intranet - My MetLife
- Investor Relations - Limited Brands 2004 Annual Report
- Investment - BusinessWeek Online
- Legal - Frost Brown Todd LLC Attorneys at Law
- Leisure - Intel Digital Home
- Magazine - Meredith Corporation
- Marketing - Nurun Ant Farm Interactive Website
- Manufacturing - Sub-Zero PRO 48 Refrigerator
- Media - JupiterImages Corporation
- Medical - LocateADoc.com
- Medical Equipment - MyLabOnline
- Military - Defense Department Transformation
- Movie - Crash
- Music - Red Bull Music Labs
- Mutual Fund - Cohen & Steers Website
- News - BusinessWeek Online
- Newspaper - Variety.com
- Non-Profit - Project Rebirth Web Site
- Online Community - Procter & Gamble's Beinggirl Website
- Other - Aftermarket Sport Compact Auto-Parts Reseller
- Pharmaceuticals - BotoxCosmetic.com
- Political - The Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com
- Portal - Galderma Skin Resource Center Website
- Professional Services - Interviews from Hell
- Public Relations - Community Coffee History Site
- Publishing - The Official Anne Geddes Website
- Radio - Classical 102.1 KDFC
- Real Estate - Coldwell Banker Previews
- Regional - Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation
- Restaurant - Johnny Rockets
- Retail - Nike ID
- School - West Clermont School District
- Shopping - The Luxury Gift Company Online Shop
- Small Business - Stuart Row Landscapes, Inc.
- Sports - Nike Basketball
- Technology - Nokia Nseries Sitelet
- Telecommunication - Disney Mobile Studios
- Toy & Hobby - A Toy Store of Toy Stores
- Transportation - ECourier
- Travel - YellowstonePark.com
- TV - Jon Brunson Outdoors
- University - San Diego State University Timeline
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Web Server Paradox
- Apache (70%)
- Microsoft (20%)
- other (10%)
Web developers create dynamic Websites that interact with the Web server via scripting languages and databases. The default technologies are as follows:
- Apache > PHP & MySQL
- Microsoft > ASP & SQL Server
BostonWorks.com sheds some light on the demand for professionals with dynamic Web development skills sets:
- PHP (37 listings) & MySQL (23 listings)
- ASP (122 listings) & SQL Server (171 listings)
So, why would the demand for ASP / SQL Server professionals far exceed the demand for PHP / MySQL professionals, when the majority of Websites are hosted in a LAMP (Linux / Apache / MySQL / PHP) environment?
The simple answer is that Microsoft server technologies hold a commanding lead in Fortune 1000 companies. Most large companies choose to invest in hiring a full-time Webmaster to manage their Web presence. Small companies, on the other hand, tend to outsource their Web development needs to independent contractors who are far more likely to depend on open-source (free) software and far less likely to place job ads.
On November 8 Microsoft will upgrade its Web server technologies with the introduction of the following:- ASP.NET 2.0
- SQL Server 2005
- Visual Studio 2005 (a Web development tool comparable to Dreamweaver MX)
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
IT Shortage -- One Solution
However, as many as 20,000 additional personnel may be needed to support IBM's mainframe market alone, and the shortage goes beyond IBM. Alarmingly, "the shortage of IT experts is likely to turn critical in a year or two," according to Robert Rosen who represents the IBM SHARE user group. His comments are summarized in an InformationWeek interview.
So, how can IT professionals best position themselves for the projected shortfall? By learning a technology that is supported not only by IBM, but also by Microsoft, Oracle, Sun and virtually every major technology provider in the market today. That technology is XML.
BostonWorks.com lists 179 openings for technology professionals with XML knowledge and experience. Monster.com lists 599 openings in the Boston metropolitan area.
To demonstrate how pervasive this technology is simply access the Websites of the following technology providers to witness their commitment to XML:
Do you want to know where to begin? Visit W3Schools to access a free XML tutorial and begin preparing for a six-figure income future!
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Nielsen's Web Design Mistakes
Nielsen has been called "the guru of Web page usability." His User Experience 2005 Conference will visit Boston October 23-28.
Here is his "list of design stupidities that irked users the most in 2005":
- Legibility Problems
- Non-Standard Links
- Flash
- Content That's Not Written for the Web
- Bad Search
- Browser Incompatibility
- Cumbersome Forms
- No Contact Information or Other Company Info
- Frozen Layouts with Fixed Page Widths
- Inadequate Photo Enlargement
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Boston Market -- October
The demand is understandable. Virtually all software programs feature a visual front end and a database back end. A Web application is nothing more than a Web page front end and a database back end. SQL is the standard language used to access information from the database component regardless of the visual interface.
This month's analysis focuses on scripting languages that carry SQL statements to and from the server-side database.
The low end of the demand curve features the following (jobs listed at BostonWorks.com in parentheses):
- ColdFusion (15)
- PHP (37)
The high end of the demand curve features the following:
One overlooked scripting technology is the following:
- Perl (140)
The Perl class is available from Virtual University (VU) and starts Monday, October 10. The ASP.NET class is available from the HP Learning Center and starts Thursday, October 13. VU classes are $20 and HP classes are free.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Kid's Programming Language
A new language has emerged to replace BASIC as a starting point to learn computer programming. The Kid's Programming Language (KPL) is compatible with Microsoft's .NET technology. KPL is being promoted by Microsoft and was developed by an independent company whose engineers are former Microsoft employees.
The original catalyst for the development of KPL was to provide children with a contemporary language to learn programming that makes it easy to develop games with both visual and audio components. By making it fun for kids to learn programming the developers, with Microsoft's endorsement, hope to attract the next generation of computer programmers.
To learn more about KPL access a press release and product overview. Free software is available for download. Parents and teachers can download a User Guide. Expect additional resources, such as a Dummies book, to be on the market soon.